Asia offers some of the world’s most modern convention and exhibitions facilities located in some of the most exciting destinations, such as the Suntec Center and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
Being remodeled, the Suntec Center has convention and meetings space on separate levels, providing more than a combined 300,000 square feet of functional event space.
“The Suntec Center is undergoing a $180 million renovation,” said Serene Tan, regional director, Singapore Tourism Board. “It will have free Wi-Fi with 100 megabytes for uploads and downloads for each exhibitor. With that you can run a lot of apps, face recognition technology and other things.”
The Marina Bay Sands resort and casino opened in 2010 and already has won acclaim as one of the world’s finest resorts. Costing more than $6.5 billion to build, the Marina Bay Sands has more than 2,500 rooms and 1.3 million square feet of exhibition space in addition to floating pavilions, entertainment venues and some 800,000 square feet of luxury shopping.
While Singapore offers some of the world’s most modern facilities, Thailand’s IMPACT Arena compares favorably. Located in suburban Bangkok, the IMPACT Arena is a multi-function venue equally capable of hosting large tradeshows as well as rock concerts and sporting events in the 12,000-seat venue. The IMPACT Arena offers some 462,000 square feet of indoor space in the second-largest arena in Asia.
The venue was built in 1989 and has areas dedicated for tradeshows and exhibitions as well as large-scale entertainment events. The IMPACT Arena hosts some 490 events and 15 million visitors each year and boasts having the largest column-free exhibition space in its Challenger Hall facility, which is nearly 200,000 square feet in size. Its convention center provides about 100,000 square feet of space, including an about 6,600-square-foot ballroom plus meeting rooms. And the exhibition center provides about 155,000 square feet of functional space. The adjacent IMPACT Hotel provides 400 rooms in a four-star hotel managed by Novotel.
Like Singapore and Thailand, Hong Kong offers modern facilities capable of hosting large, international events.
The Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center was built in 1988 and overlooks Victoria Harbor. An additional facility was added to the center on a man-made island in 1997, and the entire complex now has six exhibition halls offering a combined 175,864 square feet of exhibit space plus two convention halls with nearly 19,000 square feet of space. The site has 52 meeting rooms, a business center, seven restaurants and parking for up to 1,350 vehicles. The convention center can accommodate up to 140,000 visitors daily.
The AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong was constructed in 2005 and provides 231,000 square feet of exhibition space among 10 column-free halls capable of being configured into a single exhibition facility or used separately. High ceilings ranging from about 30 feet high to more than 60 feet high and extra-heavy floor loads accommodate large, heavy equipment. The facility also offers current communications technology and audio-visual services.
Although not intended to be an exhaustive list of Asian exhibition halls and convention centers, the thoroughly modern facilities mentioned in Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong reflect a global shift in focus in the tradeshow and exhibitions industries as Asian markets continue to grow while established markets in Europe and North America face a great deal of economic uncertainty.
